Those Smiling Fates

Getting out of bed on rainy, windy, gloomy days like today is so much harder! On sunny days I pop right out of bed; today I laid there listening to NPR for over half an hour. It took a lot of positive self talk to get me out the door to French class. I made sure to wear pretty clothes and smile at myself in the mirror a lot. "You can do it!" I said. "Just because your teacher thinks you're stupid doesn't mean it's true!"

I kept telling myself it's only an hour and a half, and the rest of my day is going to be superb. Here is why: I have to turn in a job application downtown this afternoon. The manager is only available to receive it from 3-5 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. Of course, I have a class during that time. So I arranged with the teacher to miss class today. Since I'm going downtown anyway, I asked Laura if she and Sophia would like to come along (and by "come along" I mean "drive me") and get something yummy to eat or drink and have a little bit of girl time. Bonus--if we stop at the Mill, Angela will be there to give us free coffee! Good-ness.

Then, tonight, I'm going to a show in Omaha; I also did so on Tuesday night this week. Tonight is a local-musician show at the P.S. Collective. My friend Israel is playing. He is called No One Conquered, Wyoming, and if you're in the Omaha area tonight, you should stop by at 9. Tuesday night, Eric, Israel, and I went to the Waiting Room to see Ill Ease. Israel met her once, so she came to sleep on his couch when she was in the area playing. She is a one-woman-show, literally: she plays bass, guitar, drums, the shakers, and does vocals, and puts it all together by playing and looping each instrument part, and then playing the drums while singing. It was interesting to watch and we had a good time. I expect tonight will also be fun. I've seen Israel's show four or five times, but he's doing something different and new tonight. Cool.

This is the mental drill I was putting myself through while walking through the hurricane outside to French class. All this goodness for only an hour and a half of badness!

Then French got canceled! The teacher is sick! I feel like a jerk for being happy about that, but I can't help myself. I was so worked up and nervous about it. Now I have three hours free, during which I should be productive and do homework or at least vacuum the house. But when the universe gives me so much goodness, I just feel like giving back--like baking cookies or painting or something.

For starters I'm listening to Ace of Base. Defunct* Swedish pop bands are the way to go when the fates smile this hugely.

*Apparently they aren't actually defunct, but have you heard anything by Ace of Base since 1994's "The Sign"? "All That She Wants" and "Don't Turn Around" don't count because they are on the same album and thus also from 1994. Defunct, I tell you.